


A Lack of Foresight

by AnEquivalentExchange



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: AU, Gen, Human Transmutation, bypassing the laws of alchemy, hello naughty children it's alchemy time, let the elrics be happy for one damn minute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 00:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14068932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnEquivalentExchange/pseuds/AnEquivalentExchange
Summary: Their mother was back, they were happy, that should have been the end of it. But, of course, things were never that simple for the Elrics. AU where Ed and Al's human transmutation worked.





	1. Chapter 1

_Resembool, 1910_

“So, what brings important military folk such as yourselves to our sleepy little Resembool?”  
Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang reached into his interior coat pocket and produced a sheet of paper folded so crisply the creases were beginning to grow soft and frayed. He unfolded it, having already memorized its contents, and said, “We’ve heard reports of two brothers with a talent for alchemy. We thought it was time to come and meet them ourselves.”  
“I see,” said the elderly coachman driver their horse-drawn wagon. “Scouting new recruits for the state alchemy program, hm? But why send an officer all the way from East HQ?”  
Roy shrugged tiredly. “It’s part of my job.” Then, more to himself, “With all the losses we’ve taken during the civil war, we need all the new recruits we can get.” That was why he, a lieutenant colonel of the Amestrian military, had been sent to some backwater town. Roy understood the military’s adamancy for replenishing their supply of state alchemists, especially in such a time of international tensions, though he didn’t understand the urgency and desperation to find alchemists _now_ and _no matter what._ So much so that they were sending officers such as himself all over the country.  
He was pulled from his silent complaining by the old driver’s soft chuckle. “I can’t wait to see the look on those kids’ faces when such a high ranking officer shows up at their door.”  
Roy paused, blinked. It took his mind a prolonged moment to register what his ears had heard. “Kids? Did you say _kids?”_  
“Yessir,” the man responded, a smile still on his face as he turned back toward the dirt road.  
No. No, that wasn’t right. Roy looked at the piece of paper clutched in his hands, reading it over again to make sure, even when he knew he hadn’t read it wrong all the times before. “Resembool Village,” he read, “Edward Elric, age thirty-one.”  
“No, sir.” The old man shook his head definitively. “He’s eleven. His brother is a year younger.”  
Roy brought the paper closer to his face, as if that would explain this new hitch in their assignment. “What is the meaning of this, Second Lieutenant Hawkeye?” He lowered the paper and looked over at his quiet adjunct.  
“It appears to be a typo, sir,” she said, voice flat. Anyone who didn’t know her as well as him would have missed the wryness in her tone.  
The old driver laughed once more, obviously amused by the officers’ predicament. “Well, why don’t you just meet them before making your decision?”  
Roy was about to open his mouth with a rebuttal—bring an _eleven year old_ into the military? Certainly they weren’t that desperate—but the wagon came to a halt, and Roy looked up to see they had stopped outside a quaint, white house on a grassy knoll.   
The coachman turned around in his seat and gave them a cheeky grin. “I’ll wait here until you two are finished.”  
Roy rolled his eyes and disembarked, the second lieutenant following suit. “These boys better damn well be prodigies for making us come all the way out here.” They started up the last of the dirt path, and Roy shoved his hands into his pants pockets, muttering petulantly, “Who is in charge of writing these documents, second lieutenant? Certainly whoever made such an error can’t be trusted to work for the government.”  
“I don’t believe you can have someone fired over a grammatical error, sir,” Hawkeye replied without missing a beat.  
Roy glanced back at her, but she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she leaned past him and knocked on the home’s green, wooden door.  
So they were actually going through with this.  
Roy would have scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all until he heard the loud stomping of quick feet from the other side of the door. Before he could even think, the door opened.   
The officers both had to look down to even see who was there.  
In the doorway, hands still poised on the handle, stood a young boy with a mess of blond hair and simple country clothes. He looked up at the two officers standing before him and blinked in surprise, obviously not expecting military officers visiting his home.  
“Are you Edward Elric?” Roy asked.  
The boy’s face dropped, and his eyes— _were they actually golden?_ —widen in equal parts shock and fear. He sputtered before calling out, “M-Mom!” and dashing further back into the interior of the home without another word toward the officers.  
Roy glanced at Hawkeye, seeing the same look of concern pinching her features. He didn’t wait for her to say anything about the boy’s odd behavior before he pushed the door open and stepped into the modest dwelling. The lights were all off in the open home, but the bright country sun filtered in through drawn curtains, giving the space a hazy feeling as though they were stepping into a dream that toed the line of a nightmare. Over the creaking of the floorboards under each step, Roy could hear the sounds of hushed voices coming from down the hall.   
He and Hawkeye followed the voices until they came upon a door at the end of the hallway standing slightly ajar. When Roy pushed it open, the voices died out, and three pairs of eyes turned to look. There was Edward, standing at the side of the bed and beside a younger boy who sat kneeling on the floor, facing a woman lying in bed.   
Even in the dim lighting, she looked awful. Skin sallow and colorless, chestnut brown hair limp as it splayed across the pillow. Her eyes were half closed, hazy, but when they blinked and looked at Roy, a certain amount of clarity returned to them.  
The sickly woman attempted to sit up further to address him, much to the boys’ chastising and worried looks.   
“I—Apologies for the intrusion,” Roy stated. “Mrs. Elric, I presume?”  
“Trisha Elric, yes,” she replied softly, voice croaking as though she wasn’t used to such a task. “How may I help you officers?” Roy could hear the edge in her voice hidden behind the country politeness. She wasn’t a fan of the military. Not surprising for folks in the East, especially not in a town so close to Ishval.  
Roy stepped further in to the room, causing both boys to huddle closer to their mother in defense. Roy halted, and leaned down slightly, trying to appear less intimidating. “I’m sorry,” he addressed Trisha Elric. “This was just a misunderstanding. We came here because we heard of a pair of talented alchemists.” He looked to the two boys, so similar, golden hair, golden eyes watching him and Hawkeye warily. “It is part of my duty to scout out alchemists and recruit them into the military program. Our records showed that Edward and Alphonse were skilled alchemists in their early thirties. I see now there may have been a mistake in the files.”  
“Certainly sounds like a mistake, Mister….”  
“Mustang. Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang.” He gestured to Riza, still standing silent sentry, silhouetted by the light of the door. “This is my Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.”  
“Well, Officer Mustang,” she started, much more friendly now. Roy could see the relief flush in all three of their faces when he spoke his intensions. “I’m afraid you won’t find what you’re looking for here. As talented as my sons are, as you can see they are still only boys. They get that talent from my husband. He is an incredibly alchemist, but I’m afraid he isn’t here right now. He…isn’t very fond of the military either, to say the least.” She chuckled softly, and Roy couldn’t help a small smile.   
“Most people aren’t,” he responded.   
Her polite smile fell, and she sank into the pillows, eye closed and face spent.   
Roy wondered what in the world could be wrong with this woman, that a simple conversation would take so much of her energy.  
“Mom?” Edward asked softly.  
“I’m fine, dear,” she murmured, eyes closed and face in discomfort.  
“I’m sorry, are you ill?” Roy couldn’t help but ask.  
Both boys stared up at him, wide eyed. The woman cracked open a pale green eye, mustering the energy to reply, before Edward blurted, “It’s just a cold.”  
The younger one—Alphonse—nodded vigorously. “There’s a bug going around town.”  
“Hm,” Roy grunted, unconvinced but unwilling to say otherwise. He knew he was already on thin ice with Eastern citizens. “Alright then. Apologies again for our intrusion. We’ll be leaving now.” He bid them a quick goodbye and turned for the door.  
Hawkeye gave a small bow. “It was nice to meet you three. Please get better soon, Mrs. Elric.” She followed after the lieutenant colonel, pulling the bedroom door shut as she did.   
Roy could hear their soft conversation starting up again as they maneuvered through the house and out the front door.  
“You felt it too, didn’t you?” he asked as he firmly shut the front door behind them.  
Riza knit her brow and frowned. “Something certainly felt off about that family.”  
They began down the porch steps, heading back to the wagon and the man still waiting for them. “Off, indeed. There was…it was more than that, though.”  
“What do you mean?”  
What _did_ he mean? Roy couldn’t explain it, and certainly didn’t want to with the old farmer listening in. Riza wouldn’t understand him anyway. Sure, she was familiar with the science, but she wasn’t an _alchemist._ She wouldn’t understand the strange vibe that woman gave him. The feeling of taboo in the air that he couldn’t place. He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew there was more to the Elrics than just a simple family living in a house on a hill.   
In the end, Roy just shook his head, and they climbed back onto the wagon. “There’s something more going on here. We need to figure it out before the military catches wind.”  
Riza understood his unspoken words. She nodded in ascent.  
“Where to?” the driver asked. “The Burkley’s own a wonderful inn that y—”  
“Take us into town,” Roy ordered. “We need a look at Resembool’s public records.”

***

Resembool, for all its charm, certainly wasn’t big, or keen on organization. Roy found himself in a dusty, cramped closet they called a library. He sat at the small table, Hawkeye across from him, sifting through all the town’s records they could possibly find that could in any way relate to the Elrics. They had come here, unable to trust the military’s documents with its typographic errors, but Resembool didn’t seemed to have had a bookkeeper for the past twenty years. The files were unorganized, yellowing and unused. He combed through years and years of history, of marriage licenses, forms, and health records. He was beginning to think this search was futile. What was he even expecting to find? Public records wouldn’t spell out for him whatever it was the Elrics were up to, but he didn’t have any other lead. That family was hiding something, and he wanted to be the one to discover it before the higher-ups had a chance to exploit those boys and their mom. And if it helped boost his career? Well, that was certainly an added benefit.  
He was just about to call it a day, and suggest they go to the town’s inn until tomorrow’s train arrived, when the second lieutenant spoke up for the first time since diving in to the work. “Sir…”  
“Yes, Hawkeye, what is it?” He leaned back, rubbing the dust from his tired eyes.  
“You’ll want to see this.”  
He heard her slide a sheet of paper toward his side of the desk, and as Roy blinked his eyes open, it took a moment for the document to focus. And when it did, Roy had to blink again, and again, because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  
It was a death certificate.  
 _Trisha Elric.  
Year of Death: 1904. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Resembool, 1914_

The distinct scratch of the needle against the record’s grooves cut through the kitchen air thick with heat and the smell of hearty food.  
It was late summer, when the worst of the dog days had died down, and now the warm weather was pleasant and welcomed with the gentle breeze that came in through the open window.  
The needle caught on the record, and after a cough of static, tinny music began playing through the old, beat-up phonograph standing in the hall beside the kitchen’s doorway.  
Al sauntered in after fiddling with the phonograph and swept into the kitchen to where his mother stood, stirring dinner on the stove.  
“Good choice, sweetie. This was always one of my favorite records.”  
Alphonse pulled the wooden spoon from her grip and placed it on the counter. “Then dance with me, Mom!” He took her hands without hesitation and pulled her into the middle of the floor, spinning her until the material of her skirt and apron flared out, and they were both giggling.  
Ed watched from his spot at the counter where he stood, chopping herbs freshly pulled from the garden. He smiled to himself as he watched his brother act like a total goof, and his mother be taken by a bit of laughter.  
It was so loud, so full of life, Ed marveled at the times she had been too weak to laugh, or the years when he hadn’t heard it at all. That time seemed like a distant nightmare now looking at his mother and brother as they spun around the kitchen.  
A sudden knock at the front door caused Ed to turn away from watching his family. They hadn’t seemed to notice the disturbance, but Ed was closest to the hallway leading to the front of the house. Quietly, he slipped out and down the hall, wiping his hands on his pants.  
He headed down the hall with an uncanny feeling of trepidation, and a vague sense of déjà vu to when he was eleven and those military officers had come to visit, almost discovering their secret.  
Giving himself no time to let the memory cause reluctance, Ed exhaled and pulled the door open. It would be nothing, just a neighbor asking to borrow something, or Winry coming to pester them. But upon seeing who it was, Ed decided he would much rather that Mustang guy return than see this visitor again. Before they could get a word in edgewise, Edward slammed the door and stomped back down the hall  
Al and his mother had stopped their dancing and were now watching him sulk past, hands deep in his pockets and shoulders hunched.  
“Ed, dear, who was that?”  
“No one,” he muttered.  
His mother gave him a suspicious look before moving past him and heading down the hall.  
Al walked up to him, and they watched their mother as she opened the door. “Brother, what’s going on?”  
Before Ed could respond, their mother gasped and flung the door wide open. Immediately, she was swept into the visitor’s embrace, her feet barely touching the floor.  
Al gasped too, his breath softer than his mother’s, but not lacking in awe. “Dad?” he asked softly, almost afraid to believe it. He moved forward hesitantly before running to his parents.  
Ed rolled his eyes, turned on his heel, and slipped upstairs, his family too enraptured by Hohenheim’s return to even notice his absence.  
He flung himself onto his bed in the room he shared with Al and buried his face in the pillows.  
Why were they so happy to see that deserter? Or maybe he was in the wrong for not sharing his family’s excitement. Why was he so angry at his father?  
No. No, Ed had every right to be pissed, and he was. Hohenheim had _ditched_ them. Their mother had _died_ waiting for him, and he hadn’t even bothered to ever send a single letter, didn’t bother to come to his wife’s funeral. Ed and Al had had to bury their mother alone before either of them had turned six. It was because of that bastard that he and al had spent six rough years training, six years raising each other. He was the reason they had been forced to risk human transmutation. Though he was also the reason they had succeeded.  
Ed heard the sound of soft footfalls coming up the stairs, and figured it was Al coming to see what had gotten into his brother. But as the door opened Ed recognized his mother’s gentle steps.  
“Sweetie,” she said, and Ed felt the mattress sink near his head as she sat beside him. “What are you doing in here?”  
“Nothing,” he muttered, burying his head further into the quilts.  
“Ed, you shouldn’t hide from your father like this.” Her hands trailed through his hair, soothing and loving. “I understand why you’re angry, and I won’t make you see him, but I think it would be good for you. For all of us. You and your brother deserve a complete family after everything you two have been through. Your father loves you both very much, but....things are complicated. I hope someday you’ll understand why I love and forgive him.”  
Ed sat up, causing her hand to slip from his head. “How can you, Mom? He abandoned us. He...he didn’t even care when you _died_. He never tried to contact me and Al. He left us on our own!”  
“I know, sweetie, I know. I’m sorry you and Al ever had to go through that.” She pulled him into a hug, rocking him back and forth like he was a child with a skinned knee. “But you boys aren’t alone anymore.”  
She didn’t mention her death nor her own resurrection, always just barely toeing the line of the truth. They never spoke about it, not since the first few weeks after they had succeeded. When their mother had still been deathly ill—coming back to life proved to not be an easy thing—and Ed had been terrified they would have to bury their mother a second time. But she got stronger by the day, and soon her body was as strong and as healthy as it had been before the epidemic had taken her. And the healthier she got, the less they talked about the taboo, until one day they hadn’t spoken about it at all, and they continued about their lives happily as though the past six years hadn’t happened.  
Ed sometimes wondered how his mother truly felt about it. What did it feel like to be brought back to life? What was it like to be dead for over six years, then suddenly pulled back into life? Was it unnatural? Terrifying? What she didn’t want it, what if she didn’t want to be brought back? What if she resent him and Al for dragging her back to this life?  
No, Ed knew. She wouldn’t. Ed was selfish for trying to bring her back, selfish for dragging Al into it. But their mother, she was a beautiful, selfless soul. She never wanted to leave her sons, she wouldn’t have if she had been given the choice.  
As if to reassure his conflicting thoughts, she kissed his temple and soothingly ran her fingers again through his bangs, the way she always did when he was a young boy. “I need to take the stew off the stove, Edward. I won’t be disappointed with you if you decide to stay up here, I’ll bring you a bowl. But it would make me happy if you came downstairs to have dinner with us. I know your brother and father would feel the same way.” She pulled away, patting his hair down once more and stood. “Just think about it, my little man. I love you no matter what you do.”  
She turned and headed for the door, her skirt flowing outward with the movement. She closed the door softly, keeping it open just a sliver, and Ed was left to watch her shadow leave through the crack of the door.

***

Dinner was a quiet affair. His parents did most of the talking, hands entwined and sharing smiles as Hohenheim talked about his travels, and their mother gushed about how much her boys had grown. Al occasionally joined in with a comment or question, but mostly he spent the meal glancing at Ed, having an entire conversation with their eyes.  
Ed excused himself at the earlier opportunity, and returned to his room for the rest of the night.  
Al came in sometime later, once the sun had set and the rest of the house had gone quiet. His brother stood, trying to seem authoritative in his cat-patterned pajamas pants, an old t-shirt, and his arms folded across his chest. “You know, he’s not that bad, Brother.”  
Ed didn’t respond, didn’t move to lift his head from the pillow. He didn’t want to get into it with his brother.  
Al was younger, though not by much. He didn’t remember much of Hohenheim ever being there, how he would lock himself away for hours in his study. Al had been able to keep a shred of his innocence even after they had lost both their parents, because Ed was the older one, Ed was the one who had to fill their roles. He was the one who resented their father for forcing him to grow up too fast after their mother had died.  
“You’re terrible at pretending to be asleep, Ed.” He heard his brother sigh, could practically see him rolling his eyes, before Al got into his own bed without another word.  
Ed waited for his brother’s breathing to even out into the quiet huffs of snoring before he slipped out of bed and down the stairs, all the while cursing his metabolism for making him constantly hungry, and his mother, because he knew she had made cobbler from the blueberries she got at the market that morning.  
He stopped abruptly at the yellow light streaming into the hall. Ed hadn’t noticed it before, but as he creeped closer he could hear the soft voices of his parents filtering in from the kitchen.  
“Trisha, I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Hohenheim was saying, voice as urgent as it was hushed. “For six years, you were… _dead?”_ His voice choked on the word, and Edward felt his heart clench at the acknowledged truth. “How is that even possible?”  
“I still don’t entirely understand it, dear. But the boys, they brought me back. From what they’ve told me, they spent years researching it.”  
“Human transmutation? That’s not possible. There would have been a rebound, the laws of equivalent exchange…”  
“They used a stone, dear.”  
“A _stone?_ Where on earth could they have gotten—” His voice cut off, and Ed grimaced, knowing his father had come to the right conclusion. “My stone, the one locked up in my study.”  
“I believe so.”  
“That was supposed to be for emergencies,” he said, voice hushed and distant as though he didn’t realize he had said it aloud. “I never wanted to have to use it, to use _them,_ but…if I ran out before my work was done, or if something happened to me before the circle was complete, I needed a back-up plan, that’s why I extracted some of them and tried to keep that stone safe. This plan can’t fail, Trisha.”  
“I know, dear. But Ed and Al, they were just boys, they didn’t understand—”  
“No, I don’t blame them. I only blame myself. I never should have left you. I never should have left the boys. I should have come home sooner. I hadn’t realized….just how much time had passed. I’m so sorry, Trisha.”  
The sounds of choked off sobs came from his father, and Ed couldn’t help but think this was the first time he had ever really witnessed his father display full emotions. Ed wanted to leave, wanted to go back to bed, he didn’t want to hear this, but something kept him rooted on the other side of the wall.  
His mother’s soft, forgiving voice came next, sweet and soothing as honey. “Dear, you can’t blame yourself, you didn’t know. Besides, I’m okay now. The boys are okay.”  
Hohenheim chuckled softly, sadly. “You’re too forgiving, Trisha. Far kinder than I deserved, especially considering…”  
“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”  
“I have to. My work isn’t complete yet.”  
“I told you I would wait for you. I know you need to do this, love.”  
“I wish I didn’t. I don’t want to leave you and Ed and Al again.”  
“I understand. I understood this when we decided to start a family together, and I haven’t regretted it.”  
Another soft, self-deprecating chuckle. “Trisha, you’re too good to me. What did I do to deserve you?”  
She shushed him. “You know I don’t like when you talk like that. You don’t have to run, you know.”  
Hohenheim began to speak, but she cut him off. “I know you have a job to do. I understand that. Al would too, Ed might if you would just…explain it to them. They would understand it better than I ever could. Don’t push us away. Maybe if you would just tell the boys what’s really going on, they could help you. They were skilled enough to bring me back after all.”  
“Trisha, I…I can’t. Especially now that the boys have committed the taboo. I need to keep your three safe. I wasn’t able to keep you alive and well, but I will do everything in my power to keep you three safe. To do that, I need to leave. I need to finish what he started, and I need my family to stay safe. Trisha, things in this country, you know they’re far from ideal. The military higher-ups have been infiltrated and that—that bastard is pulling the strings. I need to stop his plans, and I need to finish mine soon.”  
“How soon?”  
“As soon as possible. The Promised Day…I believe it should be coming within the next year. To stop him, I need to leave. I need as many allies in the government as I can get.”  
“So what you’re saying is, you can’t stay here much longer than tonight, can you?”  
Hohenheim sighed. “Sadly, no. Tomorrow morning, I need to leave. I think if I stay much longer…,” he chuckled sadly, “I won’t be able to leave again.”  
She joined in, softly, sadly, realizing the reality of her life. “I know. I don’t want you to leave either. But I know you need to, to keep this country safe. I just wish it hadn’t fallen on your shoulders, dear. But we’ll be waiting for you when you come back. I promise I will be. Nothing will happen to us again. Just keep your promise.”  
Ed turned on his heel as the conversation turned to declarations of love and promises. He didn’t need to hear this. He didn’t want to hear his father’s excuses or his mother’s unearned forgiveness.  
One thing was for sure though, Ed had done the impossible with bringing his mother back. He was a prodigy when it came to alchemy; he could do _anything_ his father could do, maybe even better. And if that meant figuring out what the hell was going on in this country, he would do what he had to to continue keeping Al and their mother safe. That had been his job since their father had left, and his return didn’t change anything. H would figure out what the hell was going on in Amestris, he would protect his family because Hohenheim sure as hell didn’t know how to. And since that was the case, Ed couldn’t promise that he would be there when— _if_ —his father ever returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N: Firstly, thank you to everyone who has followed/review/faved already! I wasn't really expecting anyone to read this so I'm flattered lol
> 
> ANYWAY, I know this chapter is pretty different from the first, but the story lines will converge soon. I felt this chapter was kind of rushed but tbh I'm just trying to set up what I have to so I can get to the real plot ASDFGHJK 
> 
> This AU is kinda of a divergent, where everything is basically the same except Trisha was resurrected, so the only things that will change are the things that are somehow directly connected to that. So what I'm trying to say is, some of the fic will be based off events in the actual series, like Hohenheim's return came because of brohood's episode Father Before the Grave, so yeah, for reference that's about where we are in terms of the plot's timeline. Also, I was thinking about it, and Hughes would be alive in this AU. Crazy isn't that? I felt so bad for Ed and Al once I realized that lol]


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeyyyyy long time no see, everyone! Please enjoy this chapter that's literally almost as long as the first two chapters combined lol  
> I just wanted to make a small note that it's mentioned in this chapter that Roy was recently promoted to a colonel, even though this follows the brotherhood storyline and at this point in canon Roy had already been a colonel for several years. In canon he gets the promotion after bringing Ed into the military, so since that didn't happen in this AU, it takes Roy a bit longer to get the promotion. So yeah, just felt like mentioning that in case anyone noticed.........

When Edward first awoke, he had difficulty placing the last dredges of emotions coming from his subconscious. His mind tugged at him, and he knew something had happened last night, something important, something monumental compared to the mundane quaintness of Resembool life. 

It wasn’t until he heard his mother’s muffled voice drifting up from downstairs, followed by a vaguely familiar, deeper voice, that Ed remembered.

Hohenheim. 

He was here. And he was leaving again. 

Leaving for some grand unknown scheme, according to his mother, but until Ed knew what that was, it felt like nothing more than an excuse from a fickle man. 

Ed disentangled himself from his sheets and clambered out of bed as quietly as possible. Al was across the room in his own bed, still dead to the world—damn, his brother really did love to sleep.

Ed shook his head and tiptoed out of their shared room and to the stair’s landing. 

His mother and Hohenheim stood before the closed front door, talking in hushed tones. She fixed his tie as she seemed to be asking him a slew of questions. Hohenheim would occasionally nod or respond but otherwise stood in reluctant silence. 

Finally, suitcase in hand, he turned to open the door, and as the bright dawn light filtered into the hall, Ed was hit with a wave of deja vu. He could barely see his parents as they shared a quick kiss, and then Hohenheim was gone, the light dimming again in his wake.

Ed was left, blinking the spots from his eyes and shaking the old memories of his father’s first departure from his mind. When his eyesight cleared, he could see his mother leaning against the door, seemingly lost in thought.

“Wha’s goin’ on?”

Ed jumped and turned around. “Don’t sneak up on me like that, Al!” he hissed

Al chuckled as he rubbed sleepily at his eyes. “I thought I heard the door.”

“What are you boys doing up?”

They both turned to find their mother stepping away from the door with a forced smile on her face.

“Was that dad who just left?” Al asked. “I heard the door.”

Her eyes glazed over with the distant sadness as her gaze turned down. “Yes, honey. But he’ll be back again, he promised he would be and I believe him.”

“Yeah, in what, another ten years?” Ed crossed his arms.

Trisha furrowed her brow. “Your father has important work to take care of. I don’t entirely understand it, but it’s something he needs to do. Try to understand, Edward. He doesn’t want to leave us, but he has to.”

“Of course he does,” Ed muttered as he leaned against the railing, “the bastard.”

“Edward, you know I don’t like that word,” his mother scolded lightly. 

Ed kept from rolling his eyes, instead slouching with a prominent pout on his face. 

She sighed. “I wanted your father to tell you himself, why he always has to be gone, but he said he wants to keep us safe and away from the dangers of this world. I barely understand it but I know you boys would. I don’t…I’m not sure if that would be for the best though.”

“What is it, mom?” Al asked, making his way down the stairs.

She shook her head. “I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to tell you, especially considering how….complex and…convoluted it is, but…”

Ed followed his brother down the stairs. “But after what happened after he left last time, I think we should know.”

“Yeah,” Al said, “no more secrets, Mom.”

Their mother smiled softly. “That’s just what I was thinking. Maybe…maybe if you had known where to go or what your father was doing, we would have been able to prevent what happened. Even so, I want you boys to know. You deserve to. Just in case…anything should happen again.”

When neither responded, she turned away. “Come, it’ll be easier to explain it in your father’s study. After that, I’ll fix us all some breakfast, okay?”

 

* * *

 

 

Breakfast, to say the least, was quiet. Ed barely had an appetite after the hour’s long discussion they had had in Hohenheim’s study. To think the room they had researched in for so many years, where they had planned and succeeded in bringing their mother back, had held so many secrets. And that Hohenheim had held even more.

Ed still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

His hands still trembled slightly as he tipped his glass jar upside down and watched all his money spill onto his bedroom floor. Several of the cenz coins rolled away and Ed watched in a daze, unable to stop them from rolling out of reach.

Immortal.

His father was _immortal._

And the last remaining survivor of Xerxes to boot.

The desert civilization that had always been regarded as a cautionary tale.

Ed was tempted to say his mother was just delusional in her attempts to redeem her husband, but she had the proof to back up her absurd claims.

The books in a foreign, ancient language he and Al had never been able to understand, suddenly made sense.

Ed felt his stomach lurch. He had used people—souls really, that were several hundred years old, incognizant and coalesced, but people nonetheless—to bring their mother back. They hadn’t known back then, just what a stone was made of. It seemed like a stroke of luck to find a stone hidden away in a locked box in the study. But now it seemed like a cruel trick they had fallen for.

Was their mother’s life really worth hundreds of bodiless souls? Did he and Al have the right to decide that? They were selfish, selfish and lost and hurting children who didn’t know how to take care of themselves, so they ran to the taboo. They took the easy way out. And it had worked. Ed had had his doubts from time to time, but had ultimately been glad they had done it. Now he wasn’t so sure.

The way their mother had described the story, Hohenheim had told her years before their births, that there was another man. No, not a man.

A _homunculus._

He and Al had looked briefly into homunculi when the idea of resurrecting their mother had first entered their young minds.

A faux human. A monster in human skin—Hohenheim’s skin in this case. And what? What was he trying to do? Their mother shook her head and said their father hadn’t told her the details, just that he needed to stop him. He had even begged Trisha to leave, flee to Xing or Creta, but she hadn’t wanted to leave her home.

Well, Ed couldn’t just let this bastard’s plans succeed. He had already sacrificed enough to bring his mother back, they couldn’t let anything happen to their family now.

“Brother, what are you doing in here?” Al stepped over the threshold of their shared room, staring down at the money spilled on the floor Ed realized he had just been staring at absently. He looked up at his brother; Al’s face was still slightly pale, his voice strained and hands shaking like Ed’s. He had seemed to take the news about Hohenheim better than Ed, but Ed could still see the knowledge of the philosopher’s stone weighing heavily on his little brother.

“I’m going to East City,” Ed mumbled, crawling over to grab the runaway cenz. “I’m gonna find that Mustang guy and see if he knows anything. He’s in the military, he has to know what’s going on, right?”

Al shrugged. “Maybe. He was only a lieutenant colonel though. Mom said this was something affecting the superior officers. Besides, she’d never let you go and get caught up in all of this.”

Ed shook his head. “I’m telling Mom I’m spending a few days at Winry’s.” He glanced up at Alphonse. “Will you cover for me?”

“No.”

“What the hell, Al?”

“I’m coming with you, you idiot! What kind of dumb question is that?”

“Oh.” Ed watched as his brother stomped into the room with that special brand of Elric determination, took his own glass jar, and dumped its contents beside Ed’s.

Silently, they began counting the money they had accumulated from doing alchemy jobs and fixes around town the past few years.

“It’s awful, isn’t it?” Ed couldn’t help but ask after several minutes of silence.

Al blinked and looked up, pausing his counting. He glanced back down sadly, looking so much like his mother when she thought of Hohenheim leaving. “Yeah…Brother? Do you think we made the right choice? About bringing Mom back knowing now what stones are made of?”

Ed caught his brother’s gaze. “If not, then by doing this, we’ll make it right, any way we can.”

 

* * *

 

 

“What do you _mean_ he doesn’t _work here?”_ Ed had to keep from shouting at the receptionist at the entrance to Eastern Command.

The middle aged woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, young man, but Colonel Mustang was transferred to Central well over a month ago after he received his promotion.”

Ed sighed and stepped away from the desk. “Okay. Fine. Thanks.” He turned away and Al followed.

“What should we do now?” he asked.

Ed shrugged. “Guess we go to Central.” Before Al could respond, Ed asked, “You got any change in your pockets or is it all in your bag?”

Al dug through his trousers and brought out a couple of cenz, which Ed took and deposited into the nearby telephone.

“Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters!” the cheery voice on the other end greeted.

“Winry, hey.”

“Ed? Why are you calling instead of just coming over? Is something wrong?”

“Al and I are in East City.”

“East City! Why?”

“Long story, but listen. We need to go to Central, we’re going to be longer than we originally planned. We need you to cover for us. Our mom already thinks we’re at your house.”

Winry’s sigh came through the receiver as a burst of angry static. “What are you two idiots doing? You better not be getting into trouble out there.”

“We’re not! Why would you automatically assume that? Can you cover for us or not?”

Winry sighed again; Ed had that effect on her. “Fine. I’ll tell Aunt Trisha you’re at my house if she calls, but I won’t lie to her if she starts questioning more. You’re not roping me any more into whatever you’ve already got Al roped into.”

“He’s here by his own choice! Tell her Al!”

“Winry, please help, Brother is holding me hostage.”

“Al, shut up!” Ed yelled over his brother’s devious giggling. “Winry, he’s lying.”

“Just call me when you get the chance,” Winry replied. _“Someone_ should know what you’re up to.”

“Right. Yeah. Thanks, you’re awesome. See you later.”

“Back to the train station?” Al asked as Ed hung up the phone.

“On to Central,” he agreed.

 

* * *

 

 

Newly promoted Colonel Roy Mustang was hard at work. There was only half an hour left of the work day, and the stack of papers he had managed to procrastinate now taunted him. Sometimes he thought the rest of the military just liked to torment him because there was certainly no need for the amount of signatures these papers supposedly required.

He barely heard the office phone ring before Hawkeye answered it. Her clipped and professional tone was soft white noise filling the otherwise silent and lazy office. “Colonel Roy Mustang’s office.” She paused. “Civilians? Did they tell you their names?”

Roy glanced up just as Riza caught his gaze, the phone pulled slightly away from her ear in surprise. Now that piqued his interest; not many things could catch the Hawk’s Eye off guard.

She put the receiver back to her ear. “Yes, we will receive them. Please send them up.”

She immediately stood and walked to the side of Roy’s desk. By now the rest of the team, who had been doing all things from actually working to leaning in their chairs and counting the minutes till closing time, were watching their superiors, trying to gauge exactly what this new, interesting occurrence was.

“Sir,” Hawkeye leaned down, voice low, “Edward and Alphonse Elric are here to speak to you.”

“Elric?” It took him a moment to place the name. “You mean those boys from Resembool?”

To be honest, after their peculiar meeting and the consequential discovery in the town’s library, Roy hadn’t thought much about the boys in the following years. What was he going to do? He couldn’t recruit them for his own gain, he couldn’t out them for supposed human transmutation, he didn’t have enough evidence, and besides, that information wasn’t something he would ever want the senior staff getting their hands on. So the odd case of the Elrics had quickly been swept away, buried under years of paperwork and trying to climb the political ladder. “Did they say why?”

“No, sir, the receptionist didn’t—”

A knock at the door caused her to stop, eyes immediately training on the other side of the office. She strode across the room in a few swift strides and opened the door, greeting someone Roy couldn’t see behind the ajar door.

Hawkeye stepped away, and there they were. The Elrics, slightly taller and more mature looking, but their eyes were that same peculiar gold, and Roy found himself feeling he had just reverted four years, staring at these two boys shrouded in mystery and alchemic taboo.

“Hey, Boss,” Havoc called, chewing at the end of an unlit cigarette, “care to explain why you’ve got two kids coming into your office?”

“Think back, Colonel,” Breda added, “what were you doing, say, fifteen years ago? These kids might be coming to collect some child support.”

Havoc turned toward him, the legs of his chair finding the floor with a decisive thump. “If that’s so, I win the bet, Breda. Pay up.”

“They’re not his children,” Hawkeye piped up, a resigned look on her face. 

“Besides, we don’t even _look_ like him,” Ed added. Yes, Ed was the older one, if Roy remembered correctly. Older, but smaller. He shouldered his way into Mustang’s inner office with Alphonse trailing behind, excusing himself apologetically as he stepped around Hawkeye. 

Mustang smirked and sat back in his high-backed leather chair. “Well, I have to say, this is quite an unexpected visit. What brings you boys in?” Beneath his calm, casual baritone lied an undertone of trepidation.

The brothers shared a look before Ed spoke. “Look, Mustang,” he glanced back toward the door with a meaningful look and lowered his voice so those in the outer office couldn’t eavesdrop, “we need to talk.”

Without a change in expression, the colonel’s eyes slid to glance behind the boys. He gave a slight nod to Hawkeye, and she went to close the door to the inner office with a firm hand. 

“Have a seat, boys.” Roy waved a hand toward one of the office couches.

With another quick glance at one another, Ed and Al did as they were told. 

“Is this about our last meeting?” Mustang asked. “That was well over four years ago.”

“We know that,” Ed responded. 

Al shook his head. “It’s not about that, sir. It’s about, well, ah...” He glanced from Ed to Hawkeye, standing sentry at the door, then back to Mustang. “What do you know about the philosopher’s stone?”

Roy leaned back in his office chair. Well, that certainly wasn’t what he had been expecting. “The philosopher’s stone? A stone that’s supposed to give its user immense wealth, power, immortality…But it’s just a myth.” It was just a myth, Roy knew that. But still, it felt wrong and inaccurate to say that to the two boys he _knew_ had succeeded at alchemy’s biggest taboo.

“It’s not just a myth,” Ed said, all but confirming what Roy already knew.

Roy shared a look with Hawkeye, and understood she was thinking the same thing as him. These boys, as harmless as they seemed, were beginning to unnerve Roy. They knew too much for their own good. They were meddling in something that would have catastrophic consequence if left unchecked. “And what proof do you have, Elric? Are you gonna pull a stone right out of your pocket?”

Ed rolled his eyes, and looked to Al for guidance.

Al shifted uncomfortably then looked Roy in the face without hesitation. “We—well, you met our mom, right? She—” Al stopped immediately when Roy held up a gloved hand. He knew what the boy was about to admit. The secret they had discovered years ago, only to have forgotten when it had hit a dead end. Finally, the answer to this unsettling question that was the Elrics. But it would have to wait. The higher ups never trusted Roy, and the colonel felt the same about them. He didn’t know what lengths they would go to to listen in on him, but he had the sneaking feeling every time he entered Central Command that he was never alone.

“Hawkeye,” he ordered, “bring the car around. I’m clocking out early. Boys, you need to come with us.”

 

* * *

 

 

Ed wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up facing a colonel and lieutenant of the Amestrian military in the back seat of a government issued town car in the capitol city, but what he knew for certain was his mother would decisively _not_ be happy to hear any of this if she ever found out.

Al sat beside him, hands clasped between his knees, looking as overwhelmed as Ed was beginning to feel.

“You boys understand I could have you arrested for this, right?” Mustang certainly wasn’t helping them feel all that welcomed either, nor was Hawkeye’s silent presence. Mustang’s aloof exterior was beginning to irk Ed. He knew the man was interested in what he and Al had to say, but he was putting up a front. “Transmuting your own mother? You two are obviously very smart, so what possessed you to come confess to succeeding at human transmutation to a military officer?”

“Because you’re the only person we know who might be able to help us,” Al said before Ed could make a snide remark.

“Help you with what exactly?” Mustang tweaked his eyebrow, slightly confused, slightly impressed, and entirely not trying to show that he was humoring two teenage civilians. Although, Ed had to say, he and Al weren’t exactly normal civilians.

“It’s like we said,” Ed sat back and folded his arms, _“something_ weird is going on in this country. Hohen—our dad…he’s…he told our mom that we needed to leave. That there’s something _more_ going on here, something in the government.” He caught Mustang’s hard gaze. “You ever heard of homunculi?”

Mustang frowned. “Are you suggesting the government is run by _artificial_ humans?” Ed could practically see him losing what little faith he had in them.

Hawkeye placed a hand on her superior’s arm, stopping him from saying more. “Sir, remember those riots in Liore? How the military stepped in so quickly but the bloodshed didn’t stop?”

Mustang brought a hand to his chin in thought, eyebrows downturned in deep concentration. “And if the stone is made from human lives like these boys are suggesting…”

“Then we may have stumbled into something bigger than we could have ever imagined.”

“All we know is what our mother told us, and she isn’t an alchemist. She said our dad told her that a homunculus was pulling the government’s strings and planning for something he called ‘The Promised Day’ and that the higher-ups in the military are involved,” Al said. “Our dad knows more but he left. He’s doing what he can, but…”

“But we don’t have much faith in him.”

“Brother, that’s not what I was going to say!”

_“Look,”_ Ed turned back to the two officers, “we think there are homunculi among the higher-ups, or at the very least, the government knows how to create them, and are using stones to do it. Our dad mentioned something about human transmutation and…sacrifices. Why would the military need to make stones, what are they planning? We just thought you ought to know, it seems like there’s some sort of cover-up going on. You two can do more in the military than we can from our farming village.”

Mustang and Hawkeye shared a glance, briefly talking with just their eyes. The colonel shook his head with smirk. “This is ridiculous. I wouldn’t believe the word of two children if we didn’t already have reasons to be wary of the senior staff. Did you really come here expecting us to be able to do something about such preposterous claims?”

“Yes,” both brothers said without hesitation.

“We know something is going on,” Ed added. “And we’re going to do something about it, with or without you.”

“Brother is right. We’ve already been through too much getting our mother back, we want to make sure it doesn’t happen a second time. It would just be a lot easier with you on our side.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Hawkeye spoke up.

Al shared a glance with Ed, talking silently with him just as Hawkeye and Mustang had. “Well, first, we gotta see what we’re up against,” he said.

Ed nodded. “We need answers, and to do that, we gotta find ourselves a homunculus.”

**Author's Note:**

> [A/N: idk where i'm going with this, I just really wanted to explore what it would be like if Trisha had been alive during the series, and how that would change the entire course of events. Self-indulgence galore. I want these boys to be happy with their mama. But the plot wouldn't allow that, now would it? lol I usually plan out my stories before writing them, but I'm pretty much winging this one, so yeah, pls be patient with updates.]


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